Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
A bright fireball streaked above the San Francisco, CA area at 01:35 UTC on December 20, 2018 (17:35 PST, December 19). The fireball was primarily seen from Northen California but people living in Nevada and Oregon also reported seeing the event. The American Meteor…
Tropical Storm "Cilida" formed December 19, 2018 NE of Madagascar as the 4th named tropical storm of the 2018/19 Southwest Indian Ocean cyclone season. The storm has since intensified into a Severe Tropical Storm and is expected to pass dangerously close…
New activity/unrest was reported for 4 volcanoes between December 12 and 18, 2018. During the same period, ongoing activity was reported for 14 volcanoes. New activity/unrest: Ambrym, Vanuatu | Cleveland, Chuginadak Island (USA) | Planchon-Peteroa, Central…
National Weather Service in Seattle confirmed a tornado touched down near Port Orchard, WA just before 14:00 local time on Tuesday, December 18, 2018. An extensive, official damage survey will be conducted by the NWS Wednesday morning. Until then, the strength of…
A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.3 hit southeast of Easter Island at 01:37 UTC on December 19, 2018. The agency is reporting a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.3 at a depth of 60 km (37 miles). The epicenter was located 2…
A strong explosive eruption took place at Mount Shindake, Japanese Kuchinoerabujima volcano at 07:37 UTC on December 18, 2018 (15:37 JST). This volcano, located in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, is sporadically erupting since October 2018. "After…
Tropical Cyclone "Owen" brought extremely heavy rains to parts of Queensland, setting a new Australian December daily rainfall. Owen made its first landfall well north of Cardwell, Queensland early December 10, exited into the Gulf of Carpentaria and…
Tropical Cyclone "Phethai" made landfall over Andhra Pradesh coast, close to the town of Yanam between 08:00 and 09:00 UTC (13:30 and 14:30 LT) on December 17, 2018. First reports mention a lot of downed trees and power poles and at least one person dead….
An intense eruptive phase started at North Sulawesi's Soputan volcano at 17:02 UTC, December 15, 2018 (01:02 LT, December 16). The volcano is producing lava fountains and ash columns up to 8 km (26 200 feet) above sea level. The Aviation Color Code was raised…
A strong earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.1 hit eastern Papua, Indonesia at 09:42 UTC on December 16, 2018. The agency is reporting a depth of 61.1 km (37.9 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.1 at a depth 68 km (42.2 miles). The epicenter was located 65.1 km (40.4…
